How many stars do you give episode 608 of The Walking Dead? [Recap and poll]

Let’s see what happened in episode 608 of The Walking Dead and then you will rate it for us out of 5 stars.

Last week’s episode of The Walking Dead set us up in so many ways for the mid-season finale. We could see a lot of what was about to happen, so here’s what did happen. If you haven’t seen it yet, be aware that you’re about to be spoiled!

We open with a seriously freaky scene of Sam. He puts a plate out in the hall, because he’s still not going downstairs. He goes back into his room, where he’s listening to “Tiptoe Through the Tulips,” not a song you’d expect a kid of any of the past few generations to be listening to (it made me question his music library. Even on vinyl, which not many people have anymore, there must be something else he could choose…) and coloring.

The camera pans over to a scary huge trail of ants coming in the near the window, marching in such a creepy, robotic looking line that I couldn’t help but wonder if nanites had somehow invaded Alexandria (yes, I watched Revolution a few years back). Instead, we discover that no, it’s just a LOT of ants, all marching towards another plate that holds a half eaten cookie.

Wait, Sam left a half eaten cookie? The same cookies that he had begged Carol to make? That he had been willing to steal chocolate for? My first thought when I saw that ant covered cookie was “And THAT is why I don’t let my kids take food to their rooms!”

So we all watched the opening credits, going “That was the creepiest TWD opening ever!” No need to deny it, we’re all friends here.

Alexandria Bell Tower, The Walking Dead — AMC /

And so now we watch the tower fall again, and the walker invasion that we knew was coming is now upon us as the dust settles. I know everyone’s in shock, but I was a little surprised that Rick had to tell so many of them to run. I guess maybe they were stunned, but I know that personally, I would’ve run long before I was told. Rick and Deanna are trying to play hero and take some out while the others run. Carol and Morgan end up trapped together.

Maggie gives us quite a scare and just barely makes it up onto a high platform before the walkers knock the ladder out from under her, pulling herself the rest of the way up and giving us all a heart attack, all before the credits have finished running.

Flash to green balloons in the sky. Eugene is hiding as walkers advance around him. He hears the radio and picks it up, confirming to us that he was the much speculated about voice on the radio saying “Help.” He’s almost walker bait, but Tara and Rosita come to his rescue. Way to go, ladies! The three get themselves into an open garage, closing the door just in time.

Gabriel Stokes, Ron Anderson, Carl Grimes, Rick Grimes, Deanna Monroe and Michonne, The Walking Dead – AMC /

So now we follow Rick, who’s helping Deanna hobble along after falling on a rather sharp looking blade, with Michonne, Carl, Ron and Gabriel on their heels just ahead of the very daunting looking herd. They appear to be cut off for just a second, until Jessie clears a way out for them with her gun. They run up the steps of one of the identical looking houses to safety. The view from above the streets of Alexandria isn’t looking good, with walkers becoming denser and denser.

Meanwhile, Glenn and Enid have made it back to the east wall of Alexandria. Glenn has a plan, but Enid is frozen with worry. Glenn refuses to give up, even when Enid tells him “This is how it happens.” Glenn tells her that if she wants to run away and be afraid, then she should go, but “That’s how you lose people. Even after they’re gone.”

Back inside Sam’s room, he’s still listening to yet more creepy music as Jessie and the group pile into the upstairs rooms. She’s talking quickly about how it’s going to be okay, but he can’t process what’s happening.

Morgan and Carol are in an empty house that looks like it was still under construction inside. Morgan wants to check the head wound she sustained when she fell down outside, but Carol says no. “You don’t trust anybody, do you?” Morgan asks her. “Some more than others,” Carol replies, “But you’re dead last.” Watch out Morgan, Carol is a force you are not prepared to reckon with. She wants to get up, saying she’s okay, but Morgan convinces her that she needs to sit down in case she has a concussion.

In the basement, Denise has the displeasure of being trapped in a locked room with the Wolf that Morgan was hiding. He tells Denise that they don’t belong there, but that he does. When confronted with the fact that he and the other Wolves have killed people, he tells her “We freed them. And then, we were just going to use what was left.” No, that’s not creepy or anything… he goes on to give a rather suspicious monologue about the wound in his side and the world.

Back at Jessie’s house, Michonne is tending to Deanna’s wound when they find a bite mark in her side, just as Rick walks into the room for a status report. The three of them just look at each other for a long minute, before Deanna says, “Well… shit.” Because what else is there to say, really? She already has a fever. Rick and Jessie stand by the window and discuss the situation, and what can possibly be done.

Michonne is still talking to Deanna, telling her that her plans for Alexandria could still work. Deanna tells Michonne that she had been lucky to work with her family towards a better future, that it was all she had ever wanted. She asks Michonne what she wants for herself, which Michonne can’t answer. Deanna tells her she needs to figure it out.

Carl Grimes and Ron Anderson, The Walking Dead – AMC /

Carl goes downstairs and opens the door to the garage, finding Ron there. He closes the door behind him and walks in to talk to him. Ron confronts Carl about Rick, calling Rick a killer. Carl doesn’t hesitate to tell him that his dad was a killer as well, but continues to look at him calmly. Ron is freaking out, saying they’re all dead. He locks the garage door and Carl sees the danger he’s in, managing to rush Ron in time to knock him off balance before he shoots him.

Still, Ron gets Carl in a choke hold with a shovel, and the now broken side window of the garage become an easy way in for the walkers. Luckily, Rick breaks down the door to the garage in time to get the boys inside, but now they can’t get the door to the garage closed. Carl gets Ron alone and pulls his gun on him, demanding Ron’s gun. Telling Ron “Your dad was an asshole” may not have been Carl’s best move here, even though it was the truth.

Rick hears Judith crying, sees that Deanna isn’t where he left her and fears the worst. Sam’s got the creepy ass music on again, which isn’t helping. Rick finds Deanna leaning into Judith’s crib, and almost puts an axe into her head before realizing she’s still alive. He gets her onto a bed, and she gives Rick something that she wrote for Spencer and for Maggie. Deanna tells him that the Alexandrians are all his people now, and that he is one of them.

Tara, Rosita and Eugene (who’s taking this time to brush up on world history) are still in “their” garage. Rosita is losing hope, but Tara gives her a pep talk, not seeming too bothered by their situation. Rosita finally seems to wake up and decides to get them into the house to see what’s going on. They’re debating shooting out the lock on the door, when Eugene stops reading to tell them that he can pick the lock.

Back in the empty house, Morgan asks Carol if she’s alright, and she replies that she’s resting her eyes without even opening them. Morgan goes around the corner for a minute and when he comes back Carol is gone, jumping out at him seconds later from a corner and pushing past him. She’s getting into that basement!

At Jessie’s house, holding a couch up against the garage door isn’t working, and Rick and the others are finally forced to retreat upstairs as walkers fill the house. They know they’re going to have to do something drastic. They pull the couch in front of the stairs, and then kill two walkers.

Carol gets downstairs to where Denise and the Wolf are hidden. She tells Denise to get away from him, and Morgan immediately appears in the basement as well. He’s now threatening Carol, and Denise is understandably nervous.

Rick drags the two walkers that he and Michonne had just killed up the stairs. His plan is for them to wear bedsheets as ponchos, then to gut the walkers and spread the guts on bedsheets. (Yes, it worked in season 1, but it’s looking way riskier this time… there are so many of them, including kids!) Jessie and Ron are seriously freaked out at the idea, at least at first.

Meanwhile, Morgan wants to “talk” with Carol, and neither of them is willing to back down. They stare at each other threateningly.

Michonne goes back to see Deanna, to tell her that they have to go. Michonne starts to offer to “take care of” her, but Deanna says that she’ll do it herself as soon as she’s ready. “It’s my life, start to finish,” Deanna tells her. She repeats the Latin phrase from the town plans, and tells Michonne that it means, “Someday this pain will be useful to you.” Then she tells Michonne go to. Michonne tells Deanna, “Thank you for believing.” Deanna reminds Michonne to figure out what she wants.

The group with Rick is covering themselves in guts when Sam comes in, terrified of what’s going on. Jessie tells him that to be safe “out there,” they have to “look like the monsters.” She tells him to pretend he’s brave, and that none of it is real. We can only hope that it’s going to work.

Carol is threatening Morgan with her knife. Morgan is still adamant that no matter what, he won’t let her kill the Wolf. He knocks her knife away with the long stick he’s still carrying around, and when she dives for it, he goes for her feet. She kicks him and gets the knife, gets to her feet, swinging at him, but he gets ahold of her and throws her to the ground. It looks like it really hurt, too.

Carol’s now knocked out, but unfortunately as Morgan stands over her, Mr. Wolf has gotten his long ninja stick and hits him in the head with it, knocking him to the ground. Now the Wolf has Carol’s knife and is pointing it at Denise. This is the part where the whole fandom has pretty much turned on Morgan.

Back at Jessie’s house, everyone is covered in guts. Father Gabriel promises Rick that he won’t turn back, no matter what. We’ll see, Gabe.

The Wolf is cutting the ropes on his wrist and Denise begs him not to kill them. Eugene, Rosita and Tara come in just as the Wolf gets Denise around the neck, holding the knife on her. They lower their guns and give them to him, as instructed. They try to convince him that he doesn’t need her, but he takes her anyway, now pointing a gun at her head. He leaves the others unharmed, taking Denise out of the house towards the snarls of the herd.

More from Undead Walking

Rick carries Judith to the group, and she is put under the sheet Carl is wearing. Hopefully he can keep his sister safe once again. They go down the stairs slowly, passing the walkers, who now cannot tell they are alive.

Glenn and Enid make it to the top of a tree above the wall, and Glenn sees Maggie on the platform across on the other side, surrounded.

Deanna is about to shoot herself in the head, but gets up and opens the door to the hallway, instead shooting as many walkers as she can before she runs out of bullets.

Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC, The Walking Dead /

Rick’s group is on the front porch, ready to go out into the teeming mass of walkers between them and “safety.” Without speaking, the group joins hands and starts down the stairs. They’re barely off the porch when Sam starts repeating, “Mom,” over and over. I couldn’t help but wonder if that meant that he’d be the first of them to be bitten… but we won’t know that for quite a while.

That was officially the end of the episode. Then, we endured the first twenty minutes or so of Into the Badlands.

OK, it wasn’t that long, but it felt like it. I have serious issues with AMC abusing the fact that TWD fans are such a force to be reckoned with that they tried to jam this show down our throats three weeks in a row. One week is bad enough. It didn’t make me watch Into the Badlands, by the way, it just helped me get to bed earlier than I would have had I stayed up to watch Talking Dead. As much as I love Chris Hardwick, I get up really early, so if I have to wait an hour, I just have to catch him the next day on DVR.

So then we get the two minute prologue of the TWD episode. We find Abraham, Sasha and Daryl driving along in a truck. We don’t know how far they are from Alexandria when they come across the Zombie Apocalypse version of a biker gang, parked in the middle of the road.

They’re ordered out of the truck, and since those bikers have the numbers and the firepower, our people do as they’re told. They’re informed that everything they have, down to breath mints, if they have them, is now property of Negan. (And that’s when I realize, apparently I’ve been saying his name wrong in my head for quite some time now!)

So, what did you think of “Start to Finish,” the much hyped mid-season finale? Tell us how many stars you’d give it, out of 5, and then put any and all thoughts that you may have in the comments below. Don’t hold back!

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